Discourse category approval rules by trust group
Require approval only for the risky cohort in a category, instead of forcing every topic and reply through the same moderation gate.
Why this can grow a startup
Approval queues go bad in two directions. Some communities approve nothing and let spam or low-quality posts leak into the archive. Others approve everything and bury moderators under unnecessary review work. Discourse's newer category approval controls make that tradeoff less blunt. Teams can require approval for everyone except certain groups, or for no one except certain groups, which lets the queue focus on first-timers, high-risk cohorts, or especially sensitive categories without slowing the whole community.
Source-backed example
Discourse shipped category-level topic and reply approval controls in April 2026 so admins can gate new topics or replies for everyone except selected groups or for no one except selected groups from the category moderation tab.
Source-reported evidence
Source: Discourse Meta: More flexible category-level topic and reply approvals
Discourse now supports approval rules for everyone except selected groups or no one except selected groups, with the controls collected on a dedicated Moderation tab.
Attributed to the cited source; GrowthDex has not independently verified it. Use this as context, not as a forecast, benchmark, or recommended target.
Evidence scope: claims and metrics are attributed to the linked source; GrowthDex has not independently replicated the reported result. Check the original context and validate fit before applying it. Read the evidence methodology.
Source discovered: May 30, 2026
When to use it
Use this when Community, Support, Operations is relevant to moderation design, spam control, queue hygiene and you can run a bounded test with a free budget.
When not to use it
Do not use it as a substitute for customer evidence, a clear owner, or a measurable stop condition. Local platform rules and market behavior still need checking.
How to do it
- Choose one target segment and define the exact next action this tactic should prompt.
- Adapt the tactic to Community and Support, using evidence from Discourse Meta: More flexible category-level topic and reply approvals as context—not as a promised result.
- Record a baseline for: Users who resolve the issue and complete the next useful action. Set a guardrail that would make you pause the test.
- Run a narrow pilot and choose a test window that fits the normal decision or use cycle; do not scale before you have observed the full cycle.
- Compare the signal with its baseline. Scale only if the intended action improves without crossing the guardrail; otherwise revise one variable or stop and record what you learned.
Compare a stack for your situation
Compare source-backed tactics against your product, stage, budget and channel strengths, then choose one experiment to test.
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Apply this with an operator
Build creator and community systems around real incentives, trust, and repeat participation.